Re: Funky electronics chain Fry’s is no more (Seattle Times)

On 2/24/21 6:11 PM, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote: You're forgetting Canfield Diet Fudge Chocolate Soda--I remember customers wheeling out dollies of the stuff. The idea was simplicity itself--traditional computer stores had very high sales margins. John Fry figured that if he could run a store in the middle of Silicon Valley with thin margins (like the grocery business), it was a shoo-in for success. They also had various snacks to appeal to the lunchtime crowd. I still have quite a few bagged connectors from Fry's with the red-and-white labels. In 1983, how could you beat 59 cents for a gold-plated card edge connector? Lots of parts on pegboards; occasionally a factory rep would show up during lunchtime to demonstrate a piece of test equipment. One of the few retail establishments that stocked VME cards. Fry's flogged a lot of Everex stuff in the PC department. The cashiers, of course, were minimum-wage and so had no idea of what was passing in front of them. But the sales people were little better, so if you knew exactly what you wanted, it was a glorious place. If you were looking for information, not so much. This was all at the flagship Sunnyvale store. Somewhat later, they opened up stores in Fremont and Palo Alto, which were quite a bit more polished. But this is when Silicon Valley still hosted outfits that actually made things... --Chuck